Adding DME to fix a watered down Belhaven Scotish ale

Austinbrewnoob · Oct 28, 2011

11 days ago I brewed a belhaven scotish ale. I knew I was in trouble when the OG came in at 1.035 before I pitched, adjusted for heat, due to probably too much water added. Upon tasting it 7 days into fermentation it certainly is tasty but its very watery and could be much better. I went to Austin home brew supply today and they suggested I add DME to it and give it another two weeks. I'm contemplating on the process of how to do this.

I plan on boiling up a gallon of water, dumping in the DME into the boil and cooling it. Once its cooled I will rack the original to a bottling bucket from the carboy its in now, add the new wort, and let it ferment a bit more. This would, I believe, create a vigorous secondary fermentation and will clarify the muddy goodness at the same time.

I am sure this will fix the watered down nature of the beer but I am wondering if there is a better way of doing this? I don't want to add too much more water to it, as I am already running out of head space in the carboy.

OG: 1.035, FG last sunday: 1.011

birvine · Oct 28, 2011

I don't know about the flavour, but using boiled water would be important, for sure. Make sure you mix in the new wort. I think maybe you should leave it in the initial primary container, though, so you have the yeast available to ferment.

I may be totally off-base, but I'll be interested to see what others have to say about this, too.

Brent

theredben · Oct 28, 2011

I don't think you would need to boil a whole gallon. I would start with 1/2 gallon of boiling water (remove from heat!), add your DME, and then see if you can dissolve it all in as little water as possible.

If you are running out of space in the carboy, you could also remove 1/2 gallon of beer and boil that to dissolve the DME. Just remember that either way, your bitterness will seem less when you add the extra sugars, so maybe you could add some (around 0.25 oz) hops to balance it out?

asterix404 · Oct 28, 2011

How much volume is the initial batch, are we talking like 5.5G? Also how much do you want to add to kick up the abv?

frazier · Oct 28, 2011

Not enough info. Was this an extract batch, or All Grain? If extract, then the OG is almost certainly what was advertised on the kit, and your reading is low (a common problem which is not really a problem). So, what was the kit? There is a definite likelyhood that your best course of action - is to take no action! Bottle it, enjoy it, plan your next batch.

You could bump the ABV with some extra DME, but Scottish Ales are rather light in the -/60 and -/70 versions. American tastes run more toward the -/80's, so you have to be sure when you order a kit, what strength you are getting.

Then, regarding your additions - how much are you planning to add? If you add 1 lb. DME in 1/2 gal boiled water, to a 5 gal batch, this is equivalent to bumping your OG from 1.035 to 1.040. If you add 2 lbs in 1/2 gallon, you get 1.048.

Austinbrewnoob · Oct 28, 2011

frazier said:
Not enough info. Was this an extract batch, or All Grain? If extract, then the OG is almost certainly what was advertised on the kit, and your reading is low (a common problem which is not really a problem). So, what was the kit? There is a definite likelyhood that your best course of action - is to take no action! Bottle it, enjoy it, plan your next batch.

You could bump the ABV with some extra DME, but Scottish Ales are rather light in the -/60 and -/70 versions. American tastes run more toward the -/80's, so you have to be sure when you order a kit, what strength you are getting.

Then, regarding your additions - how much are you planning to add? If you add 1 lb. DME in 1/2 gal boiled water, to a 5 gal batch, this is equivalent to bumping your OG from 1.035 to 1.040. If you add 2 lbs in 1/2 gallon, you get 1.048.

Its a mini mash. I am planning on adding 2-3 lb DME. The way I see it, if I add 3 lb of DME this will increase my grav by ~25 points.